PRIME Minister David Cameron made a whistlestop visit to a housing development under construction in Teignbridge on Monday to hammer home the message to councils that they must deliver Local Plans for new homes by 2017.

Otherwise, the government would do it for them, he warned.

Mr Cameron made the surprise visit to the site where 250 properties are being built by Linden Homes, at Kingsgate on the slopes of Penns Mount, Kingsteignton.

There the prime minister was taken on a site tour and met Andrew Richards, the Linden Homes Group managing director, company workers, Teignbridge Council leader Cllr Jeremy Christophers, deputy leader Cllr George Gribble, other councillors and deputy chief executive Phil Shears.

Mr Cameron praised the district authority which has already produced its Local Plan for 12,000 homes along with shops and employment units, although not without numerous stumbling blocks along the way.

At the end of last year Newton Abbot’s Wolborough Hill Residents’ Association challenged the plan in the High Court, where a judge ruled in favour of the council, while the development of the area known as Penns Mount, which had in previous years been refused, brought unsuccessful objections.

The visit coincided with the publication of the Landmark Housing and Planning Bill which the government hopes will help its ambition of having a million homes by 2020. It is also setting measures to deliver 200,000 starter homes, offer 1.3 million tenants the right to buy and to cut red tape to boost home building.

In a statement Mr Cameron said that while 82 per cent of councils had published local plans, which should set out how many homes they plan to deliver in a set period, only 65 per cent have fully adopted them, and there were still almost 20 per cent of councils without an up-to-date plan.

The government says the Housing Bill is part of its pledge to deliver security, stability and opportunity to the British people.

Among the proposals: New affordable starter homes – a new legal duty will be placed on councils to guarantee the delivery of starter homes on all reasonably-sized new development sites, and to promote the scheme to first time buyers in their area.

Local authorities will be able to bid for a share of a £10 million Starter Homes Fund – part of a £36 million package to accelerate the delivery.

There will be automatic planning permission in principle on brownfield sites – to build as many homes as possible while protecting the green belt – as well as reforms to support small builders, and placing a duty on councils to help allocate land to people who want to build their own home.

Mr Cameron announced that a temporary rule introduced in May 2013 allowing people to convert disused offices into homes without applying for planning permission, would be made permanent.

‘A greater Britain must mean more families having the security and stability of owning a home of their own. My government will do everything it can to help people buy a place of their own – at the heart of this is our ambition to build one million new homes by 2020.

‘Many areas are doing this already – and this is great – but we need a national crusade to get homes built and everyone must play their part,’ he stated.

Nigel Palmer, managing director for Linden Homes South West, said his company supported the principle of the Starter Homes initiative and welcomed the government’s intention to support first-time buyers.

‘Starter Homes will complement other schemes the government has introduced, such as Help to Buy. The main barrier for aspirational homebuyers is financial constraint and schemes such as these are infinitely key in enabling them to get onto the housing ladder,’ he said.

Mr Cameron met media representatives for questions for all of two-and-a-half-minutes before he was on his way.